Wisconsin Writers Hiding Tony Evers' Empty Suit

Madison, Wisconsin—"I don't know who the Democratic Party is. I just don't know who they are anymore," said Terrance Warthen, co-chair of Our Wisconsin Revolution, in 2017 (MSNBC).

Warthen is in good company.

In Wisconsin, not much is known about Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers (D) beyond the fact he is not Scott Walker, a compelling attribute after eight years of unmitigated disaster.

But several progressive writers are working feverishly to conceal the fact that Evers is an uninformed, moribund, Republican-lite empty suit who just doesn't get it.

One month into the Evers administration, there is a public relations campaign from Paul Fanlund, John Nichols, Ruth Conniff and Dave Zweifel, all of whom rush to say that Tony Evers is some variation of nice.

This Tony Evers team of writers omits the fact the new governor has done nothing during the campaign, transition and administration in working against the lunatic, illegal and unconstitutional Foxconn-Wisconsin contract that Scott Walker concealed from Wisconsin, for example.

Outside of Tony Evers' world, Foxconn and the corporatist scam it represents are catastrophic, and  seeking some personal attribute to highlight it is a fools' game that ignores the radical work of rightiwingers whom the corporate press still term "conservative." This is not about "messaging," to which Evers has reduced the Foxconn scam.

Here are examples from the Evers-does-has-clothes caucus.

Paul Fanlund - Tony Evers is "personally likable," just like Sen Tammy Baldwin (D).

Fanlund ignores it was Baldwin's hard-hitting camapign "that used the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to effectively frame her opponent as doing the bidding of corporate special interests" (In These Times). Baldwin "garnered 150,000 votes more than Tony Evers," notes the piece and it was not by being Ms. Nice Girl.

John Nichols - "[Tony] Evers defeated Scott Walker precisely because the former state superintendent of public instruction speaks to a longing on the part of Wisconsinites for a presumption of civility."

Nichols has been pushing this line for months.

I know many activists around the state of many persuasions and none of them voted for Tony Evers because they long for civility. It is all about clean water, local control, collective bargaining, public schools and the University of Wisconsin System, among human rights concerns.

I have never spoken to Scott Walker because I don't like the company of racists and rightwing Christians, but if I did meet Walker, I would be willing to bet he would be likeable and civil.

So what?

This brings us to:

Ruth Conniff - Conniff quotes Evers' inaugural address, noting Evers' call for kindness and civility.

C'mon, every politician calls for kindness, peace, love and understanding.

This is what Conniff has to prop up Evers?

Dave Zweifel - "Evers showed once again that his style shuns nastiness," writes Zweifel. Finally, Zweifel does offer, "kowtowing to big business—million-dollar, even billion-dollar, payouts to hugely successful corporations started to grate" on voters.

But Zweifel like many other pro-Evers writers is working to reduce politics to personality, holding out the hope, for example, that State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) may hear the "governor's message."

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As Republicans have mobilized the corporate-prison-racist-Evangelical coalition as never before, the Tony Evers crowd calls for depoliticization, saying it's time to be nice, civil and bipartisan.

The Evers crowd does have some friends on the rightwing who emphasize the personal over policy—Peggy Noonan.

Noonan chastised Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) for not appearing likeable, warm and spirited at the State of the Union spectacle.

AOC offered a response to Noonan, that Wisconsin's pro-Evers crowd should consider:

Why should I be “spirited and warm” for this embarrassment of a #SOTU?

Tonight was an unsettling night for our country. The president failed to offer any plan, any vision at all, for our future.

We’re flying without a pilot. And I‘m not here to comfort anyone about that fact. https://t.co/7bu3QXFMnC

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 6, 2019

Terrance Warthen and AOC have it right.

In Wisconsin, the Democratic Party and its amen corner have veered into a post-policy world where elected officials must prioritize being nice, likable, civil and spunky in the manner of a 1970s cheerleader—not that there is anything wrong with that, just that I would prefer the governor to be a fighter and straight shooter with more than a pedestrian knowledge of public policy.

Tony Evers could be really nice and resign, offering the executive branch to Lt Gov Mandela Barnes (D), who gets it.

Finkelstein Resigns, Settles with DePaul.

Breaking - DePaul U. ends its disgrace in part; admitting no guilt.

Finkelstein resigns, settles with DePaul.

Well, Alan Dershowitz's campaign to prevent the publication of Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History failed, but his campaign to deny Finkelstein tenure succeeded.

No matter it's a big world, and the lies and militarism of Dershowitz and company are more clear than ever thanks to Finkelstein's work.

Smearing, the time-honored tactic of militarists, censors, and torture advocates ultimately dissipates in the light of truth.

Details coming at Norman Finkelstein.

From the International Herald Tribune:

Finkelstein, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, was denied tenure in June after spending six years on DePaul's faculty.

His remaining class was cut by DePaul last month.

His most recent book, "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History," is largely an attack on Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel."

In his book, Finkelstein argues that Israel uses perceived anti-Semitism as a weapon to stifle criticism.Dershowitz, who threatened to sue Finkelstein's publisher for libel, urged DePaul officials to reject Finkelstein's tenure bid.

Finkelstein said in the statement that he believes the tenure decision was "tainted" by external pressures, but praised the university's "honorable role of providing a scholarly haven for me the past six years."

Joint statement of Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University

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Finkelstein Fights on for Academic Freedom

Update: Finkelstein resigns, settles with DePaul.

Details coming at Norman Finkelstein.

DePaul University Professor Norman Finkelstein’s fight for academic freedom is far from over, though he was denied tenure this spring for his vociferous objections to Israeli and American militarism, among other published work.

A man dedicated to peace and precision in scholarship, who took on Israeli and American militarism met a Karl-Rovesque slime machine.

Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul this spring after Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz and supporters of Israeli militarism organized a campaign against Finkelstein's tenure appointment, supported in part by Madison’s The Progressive magazine’s editors, Matt Rothschild and Ruth Conniff, who ludicrously called Finkestein a Holocaust minimizer, though both of Finkelstein's parents are concentration camp survivors.

Dershowitz, a long-time supporter of Israeli militarism, maintains a special enmity with Finkelstein, not helped after Finkelstein exposed Dershowitz’ plagiarism.

Finkelstein’s supporters are legion, including Noam Chomsky and the late Raul Hilberg, respected as the dean of Holocaust historians and author of the classic The Destruction of the European Jews.

The Chicagotribune.com reports that Finkelstein and supporting students may “engage in civil disobedience at the start of the fall term Wednesday … “

"I am morally, mentally and emotionally depleted right now. But I will find the resources to fight this next battle. … It is rather regrettable that DePaul is carrying on the spirit of Chicago's Al Capone rather than St. Vincent de Paul," Finkelstein said in an interview with the Trib. "One of my heroes is Paul Robeson, who said, 'I will not retreat one-thousandth part of one inch. And I won't either."

As reported in Chicago Indymedia, DePaul took the unprecedented step of canceling Finkelstein's last year of classes and locking him out of his office. Professors who are denied tenure are traditionally given one more year to teach while they seek other employment.

Hilberg, before he passed away in early August, said in the Logos journal, “Well Finkelstein is now maligned all over the place. There were obviously lobbies who tried to dislodge him from his position.”

And Hilberg had expressed dismay about the ad hominem attacks against Finkelstein as a blow to academic freedom.

First-rate scholar, popular teacher, and prolific author, I doubt a man of Finkelstein’s contributions to humanity will have much problem finding a position befitting his stature, though his case illustrates perfectly how difficult it is for critics of Israeli militarism to survive in the American academy.

Such is the ideology in America, but were he working in Israel or England; Finkelstein would still be a controversial figure, but would also be widely perceived as heroic and righteous, provoking a needed debate of the ethics of American-Israeli militarism.

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